BUCKTOWN — Good defense hasn’t exactly been Pottstown’s rally cry this fall. Allowing a very generous 409 yards and 38 points a game certainly lends itself to being analyzed, criticized and, at times, ostracized. Even more so when there haven’t been a whole heck of a lot of issues on the other side of the ball.

So, down to their final game, with the opportunity to finish with the program’s first non-losing season in 10 long years, the Trojans played ... defense.

They buckled down, not under, and came up with their own share of big defensive plays Thursday morning to hold off host Owen J. Roberts, 26-21, in the 53rd renewal of the their Thanksgiving Day series.

After scoring twice on their very first two snaps of the game to take a 14-0 lead, and after falling behind 21-20 with a very long nine minutes and 21 seconds remaining, the Trojans delivered a roundhouse offensive drive to retake the lead and a knockout defensive stand to protect it.

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And in the end, the numbers didn’t lie — they allowed considerably less yards and points than they’re accustomed to, and came up with three turnovers against the host Wildcats (3-6 Pioneer Athletic Conference, 3-9 overall).

“I think we improved (on defense) little by little as the season went on,” said two-way starter Dayon Mohler, who got himself in on seven tackles and picked off a pair of OJR passes. “(Defensive coordinator Tim) Hughes helped us out a lot with that.

“So (the win) is a great feeling for the defense, for all of us. We felt we could do it, and we wanted to do it for our seniors.”

It was quite a sendoff for the dozen Pottstown seniors, who helped win the final two games and leave the Trojans with that long-sought .500 or better overall mark of 6-6.

“We’ve given up our share of big plays, so (what’s been said about) our defense is a little misleading,” Pottstown head coach Brett Myers explained. “Today we didn’t. Today our defense played well and our offense, which played well, too, didn’t affect our defense.”

“It was just a matter of execution, and better tackling, too. Our defense really dug in and played hard.”

The decisive stand came during Owen J. Roberts’ final possession. After Mohler skirted the left side and cut back for a 14-yard touchdown that put the Trojans ahead 26-21 with 6:28 left, the Wildcats took over on their own 48. Two first downs later, they were at the Trojans’ 21. A holding penalty pushed them back 10 yards and a mix-up on a handoff cost them another eight yards, forcing OJR head coach Tom Barr to call for a pass.

Jarrad Pinelli threw a pair of what appeared to on-the-money passes downfield, too, but Pottstown’s Denzel Harvey reached in at the last second to break up the first one and teammate Austin Debnam did the same to break up the other with 2:01 left.

Pottstown took over and, thanks to a pair of bursts covering 14 and 11 yards by Mohler and quarterback Sage Reinhart to advance the chains, those 121 remaining seconds ticked away and off the clock.

“Most of the year we were giving up big plays (on defense),” said Reinhart, who finished up an uncharacteristic 6-for-16 for 141 yards to close with a school-record 2,301 on the season. “But today our defense came up with the big plays. Everyone attacked. We had 11 guys on the ball. It was just a good overall effort, and it was nice to see everyone want to win as much as they did.”

Offensively, Reinhart took Pottstown’s first snap and pitched it to Monroe Hampton (six carries, 111 yards), who took it around the right side and 84 yards downfield for a quick 6-0 lead. Reinhart took Pottstown’s second snap and found Antonio Moore all alone for an 80-yard touchdown pass and 14-0 lead with more than a third of the opening quarter yet to be played. But that was it as far as Pottstown’s scoring, or at least until Reinhart capped his team’s initial drive of the second half with his 14-yard run and Mohler danced left and darted back right on what would prove to be his game-winning 14-yarder in the fourth quarter.

“We knew we could score because we’ve been doing it all year,” Reinhart said. “Today we didn’t put up those kind of numbers, but our defense sure stepped up.”

And as pleased as Myers was, he bowed to Owen J. Roberts’ comeback efforts.

“You have to give them credit, too,” he said. “They didn’t give up, and that says something about the Owen J. kids. They kept playing.”

The Wildcats surely could’ve packed it in after those two quick Pottstown scores. They could’ve packed it in after Mason Weber fell on an OJR fumble at the hosts’ 25-yard line.

But they didn’t.

Two plays following the fumble, Will Bradford picked off Reinhart and returned it 76 yards to the Pottstown 12. Despite a first-down sack and the first-half clock running down, Pinelli was able to find Bradford in the end zone on a fourth-and-seven from the nine to get Owen J. Roberts on the board and within 14-7 at the break.

And after Reinhart’s 14-yarder made it 20-7 just 2:33 into the second half, Owen J. Roberts scored on two of its ensuing three possessions. Wyatt Scott — who put in a typical, OJR tailback’s day with 31 carries fo 186 yards — rambled 15 yards with 5:06 left in the third quarter, then Pinelli went back up top to Kyle Hinrichs for a 21-yard touchdown toss 2:48 into the final quarter.

“I’m pleased with the kids,” Barr said. “We’ve been young and inexperienced all year, but we have to learn to make big plays. Pottstown made the big plays today and we didn’t. But our kids didn’t quit. And I’m proud of the way our seniors stepped up in their final game.”

Bryson Cahill had two sacks to underline OJR’s defensive effort, but it was those two long scores at the outset that proved to be the Wildcats’ undoing.

“That first play they ran the option and our guys got caught on their heels, out of position,” Barr explained. “The second play was just broken coverage. After that our defense picked it up.”

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, so did the Trojans.

“Just a great feeling,” Mohler said.

NOTES

Pottstown won its second straight game over OJR for the first time since the 1995-97 hat trick, but stil trails in the Thanksgiving Day series, 32-21-1. ... Mohler’s two interceptions gave him an area-high six on the season. ... Hampton’s finale gave him 1,033 yards rushing on the season. ... Reinhart closed with 3,582 career yards passing and is now 13th on The Mercury’s all-time list.